Henri Toutin

Henri Toutin was a French goldsmith who spent his days hunched over a tiny furnace, melting gold into shimmering portraits no bigger than a credit card. He perfected a secret trick, enamel mixed with gold, that made his portraits glow like tiny stained-glass windows. His gold-and-enamel miniatures were so precise, kings and queens lined up to sit for him.

Look up his Portrait of Charles I Stuart, it’s so crisp you can almost see the stubble on the king’s chin.